Faith
“Don’t be afraid, just have faith.”
In Mark 5:36 – Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, just have faith.” (NLT) this doesn’t sound too unreasonable until you understand the context of the story behind it.
Jesus said this to a man named Jairus who had just been told his daughter was dead. Jarius daughter was sick and dying so Jarius had asked Jesus to come to his house to heal her. On the journey they are met by a messenger from his house telling Jarius “Your daughter is dead. There’s no use troubling the Teacher now.” But Jesus overheard them and said to Jarius, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith.” (NLT)
I would imagine being told your daughter had died would be a pretty big ‘storm’ to face. It would be very easy to give up then and there and go on alone, home to a funeral. But Jarius, just like we can, journeyed on with Jesus through his own personal storm. Trusting in Jesus, believing the words Jesus had spoken to him, having faith he walked that road with Jesus right by his side.
When they got to Jarius house, “Jesus saw much commotion and weeping and wailing. He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child isn’t dead; she is only asleep.” The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around!” (NLT)
Jarius could have given up, he could have accepted the bad report, he could have stopped Jesus when the crowd laughed at him, he could have listened to the world around him, but Jarius had something those other people didn’t have. He had strong faith. He had Jesus walking side by side with him.
Jarius walked that road with Jesus, listening to Jesus words, “don’t be afraid, just have faith.” Those words were probably on repeat inside his head, “don’t be afraid, just have faith, don’t be afraid, just have faith.” He trusted, he exercised his faith and he believed and received his miracle.
We, like Jarius, can walk through our own personal storms with Jesus. He will speak words of encouragement and faith to us, just like He did for Jarius. Don’t listen to the bad report, block out the laughter or scorn of others.
Trust in what God has told you and walk, believe. Don’t be afraid, build your faith. Watch what God can and will do. You don’t have to go through your storm alone, Jesus wants to walk that journey with you.
It has been in the storms of my life that I have felt closest to God. The Word says in James 4:8 to draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.
God doesn’t always keep us from going through tough times, but He will always go through them with us.
God is always there. It may feel like He is absent but God will never leave you or forsake you. He doesn’t create the storm, He may allow it to happen but He is always there to see us through it.
He is enough, Christ is enough, He is all you need. If you are going it alone with God then ‘Amen’ to that. He is all you need, everything you need is in Him. He will walk with you through anything and everything if you allow Him too.
Don’t doubt that He is there every step of the way with you.
It is in those times when I have felt that I am doing it completely alone with God that I have grown the most, that I have learnt the most, and my relationship with God has moved to another level. Have faith and go through whatever storm you are facing with God right there beside you and receive your miracle on the other side.
Don’t be afraid, just have faith!
Rachael Lock
Matthew 14:28-31 – “And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
We’ve all heard or read this story many times right?
There are times when we step out trusting God and it’s all going great and then all of a sudden we lose faith (confidence) in ourselves and ops, got that sinking feeling!
It isn’t God we lose faith in, it is ourselves. Peter lost faith in himself but he didn’t lose faith in Jesus because he still called out to Jesus to save him believing that He could.
Peter had his eyes on Jesus when he stepped out of that boat and when he was walking towards Him, but then he took his eyes off Jesus and noticed that the wind was boisterous and he was afraid and that was when he started to sink. We step out in faith with our eyes on Jesus and we are all good and moving ahead focused on God and then we get distracted by what is going on around us and shift our focus and that is when we start to doubt, that is when the fear starts to creep in, that is when reality tries to smack you in the face.
Cry out to Jesus and get your focus back on Him. It isn’t Him you doubt, it is yourself. Your ability to ride the storm, your strength to make it through, your commitment in the tough times. You need to realise that you can get through anything if you are with Jesus.
When Peter called out to Jesus it says “and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.” The thing that gets me here is that Jesus was obviously close to Peter because all He did was stretch out His hand and He caught Peter. How many times is Jesus right there beside us but because we have shifted our focus we only see the wind, the so called reality of our situation and we start to panic.
I am actually writing this to myself first because I have been in this place and am pretty much going through this myself as I write. Today I got another “thank you, but no thank you” e mail regarding a job. It is tough putting yourself out there, going to interview after interview, it never seems to get any easier and doubting yourself can start to creep in. Look to Jesus, don’t take in the “storm” around you, keep focused on Jesus and doing what He is telling you to do and keep walking through your current reality with Jesus right there with you.
The other thing that really stood out to me in this scripture is that it says “immediately.” Jesus reacted immediately to Peters cry for help. There are times when it seems like God waits too long, but that’s because we are looking at things by our time schedule, not Gods. If you need immediate help, God is going to stretch out His hand immediately. He won’t let you sink. Trust God but also trust yourself. Jesus knew what was going to happen with Peter but I also believe that Peter did actually have the ability to walk on water all the way to Jesus.
Peter actually accomplished the hardest part in my opinion, which was to step out of the boat in the first place. He believed in Jesus so much that he didn’t even hesitate to step out of the boat. It was only when he took his eyes of Jesus and took notice of his environment that he lost faith, but again not in Jesus but in himself.
Why step out of the boat start walking and then panic!! If the hardest part is already done why start doubting once you are on your journey, Jesus is right beside you, keep your focus on Him and keep moving forward.
God wouldn’t start you out on something to let you sink in the middle, keep your faith in God and in the fact that He believes you can do it so how about believing in yourself also.
Our faith needs to be 100 percent in Jesus but we also need to have faith in who He has called us to be.
God knows what He is doing, He knows the end result so how about having some God given confidence in yourself. Believe you are who He says you are, believe you can do what He calls you to do and keep on walking on water, with your eyes focused on Jesus.
Rachael Lock